Indictment mischaracterized in deleted tweet from Perry account

AUSTIN — A tweet mischaracterizing Gov. Rick Perry’s indictment was sent Sunday evening from his personal account, setting the social network abuzz and leaving his critics fuming. An hour later, the message was deleted, with his account calling it “unauthorized.”

“I do not condone the tweet and I have taken it down,” a message from the account read at 8:20 p.m.

The original tweet, which went out almost exactly an hour earlier, included a graphic mocking Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg, whose drunk-driving arrest led Perry to threaten to veto funding for the state’s Public Integrity Unit unless she resigned. The picture depicted Lehmberg as The Most Interesting Man in the World, a character from ads for Dos Equis beer.

The text on top of the graphic read: “I DON’T ALWAYS DRIVE DRUNK AT 3X THE LEGAL BLOOD ALCOHOL LIMIT… …BUT WHEN I DO, I INDICT GOV. PERRY FOR CALLING ME OUT ABOUT IT. I AM THE MOST DRUNK DEMOCRAT IN TEXAS.”

Lehmberg did not indict Perry. She and other officials in solidly Democratic Travis County recused themselves from the case against Perry. Bert Richardson, a Republican judge from Bexar County, appointed San Antonio lawyer Michael McCrum to serve as a special prosecutor. McCrum brought forth charges against Perry, and on Aug. 15, a Travis County grand jury handed up an indictment alleging Perry abused his official capacity and coerced a public servant.

The tweet drew an almost instant backlash from Perry’s political opponents, many of whom have accused him of purposely blurring the details of the case from the get-go to rally public opinion in his favor.

The graphic featured the logo of the Patriot Post, a website that offers news and commentary for a conservative audience. The website’s coverage of the indictment has been sympathetic to Perry and included similar illustrations poking fun at Lehmberg.

Although the tweet came from Perry’s personal account — as opposed to the ones run by his staff — it was unclear Sunday evening whether he actually sent it out. The governor was reportedly preoccupied working the crowd at McLane Stadium in Waco as Baylor’s football team played its first game there.

A tweet just went out from my account that was unauthorized. I do not condone the tweet and I have taken it down.